An Open Letter From a So-Called StupidWritten by Jonathan Kraft
Why Identity Theft makes us all dummies, and what you can do to stop being stupid... Someone recently told me, "You would have to be a stupid to lose your personal information." While I respectfully responded to this person in moment, comment has stuck with me. I present on Identity Theft all over Western United States, and thought I would respond to this particular individual in writing.There are multitudes of ways to lose your personal information. You have undoubtedly heard of many of them. Fake web sites, data theft, stealing people’s trash, stealing people’s outgoing mail, check fraud, etc., are just a few of possibilities for loss of information. Job ads are also being used for Identity Theft. Monster.com ranks fake companies posing as real companies on their web site among their biggest problems. So, to you who think that it could never happen to you, you might want to read this next sentence twice. No matter how good you are, no matter how vigilant, no matter how much you shred or tear, no matter how many times you go to post office so that you don't put outgoing mail in your home mailbox, regardless of how well you can hide in your home, there is no 100% effective defense against Identity Theft. Let me say that again, in case you don't read it twice. There is NO 100% effective method to defend yourself against identity theft. Here's an example of why. Let's say you want to get health insurance, or auto insurance, or finance a car, etc. etc. etc. Let's say for purposes of this example that you are trying to get health insurance through your company. This is a relatively simple process, right? Fill out form, and wait to get insurance cards in mail.
| | Refinancing - Best way to measure costs and gainsWritten by Tony Forster
Refinancing is a term in finance industry that refers to process of paying off a current or present loan with a second loan. If situation is right, refinancing can be very beneficial for those who engage in it. So how do you know when situation is right for refinancing? First thing's first, refinance only works if interest rates are low. If they aren't, then refinancing is out of question. The goal is to save you lots of money which you would have used to pay off your monthly recurring bills on your current loan. With refinancing, there is possibility that this monthly repayment amount will be reduced since rates would be considerably lower. However, interest rates are very fickle. They vary in accordance with changing economy. So it can therefore be assumed that interest rates are never low for long periods and neither are they high for long durations of time. Because of this inherent flexibility of interest rates, refinancing may not always be beneficial to people. For home owners with second mortgages, mortgage refinancing may backfire. The same goes for those people with a lot of debt or those having trouble paying their bills on time. By refinancing, they may end up paying more than when they stick to loan they already have. What is best way to measure costs and gains from refinancing?
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